Famine in Somalia

Eleven-month-old Abdifatah Hassan, suffering from severe malnutrition, is cared for at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders at a camp housing Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, saying child malnutrition rates exceed 30% and as many as six children age 5 or younger are dying daily. The region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years and tens of thousands are feared dead. (Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images)

March 17, 2014 10:15 AM PT

The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia as the Horn of Africa region continues to suffer from the worst drought in 60 years.

Nune Abdil, 2, a malnourished child from southern Somalia, is treated at Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press)

A child from southern Somali is seen at a new settlement for displaced people in the capital, Mogadishu.The U.N. famine declaration formally covered two regions of southern Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, where farmers crops failed and their livestock died amid years of drought. (Abukar Albadri / EPA)

A soldier tries to control the crowd as they wait for food handouts at a settlement for displaced southern Somalis in Mogadishu.The United Nations World Food Program says 11.3 million people are in need of food assistance. (Abukar Albadri / EPA)

A child from southern Somalia holds his brother as they wait outside a ruined building before making their way to a camp in Mogadishu. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press)

A child from southern Somalia eats a piece of bread inside a destroyed building where people from the south have camped out after fleeing prolonged drought in their region. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press)